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Posted on 10/05/2011 4:26:40 PM PDT by justsaynomore
GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, once the longest of long shots, is surging in polls across the country and now leads the field among N.C. Republicans.
Cain's gains have come at the expense of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has fallen as much as the Atlanta businessman has climbed.
Combined with the unsuccessful courtship of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the polls suggest a GOP electorate still looking for a 2012 flag-bearer.
"Part of what these numbers demonstrate is the volatility within the Republican electorate," said Adolphus Belk, a political scientist at Rock Hill's Winthrop University. "Republicans ... haven't fallen in love with anyone yet."
As if to underscore that, Christie on Tuesday formally spurned the advances of establishment Republicans looking for another candidate.
"Now is not my time," he told reporters in Trenton. "For me the answer was never anything but no. My job here in New Jersey was always my passion."
Christie's decision appears to freeze the Republican field, at least for now, in an election season suddenly becoming squeezed.
Monday's decision by S.C. Republicans to move up their primary five weeks to Jan. 21 will push contests in Iowa and New Hampshire even earlier, to just after the holidays. All that gives any new candidate less time to raise the money and build the organization needed for success in the early states.
That leaves many Republican voters still searching.
A survey released Tuesday by Raleigh's Public Policy Polling shows Cain leading his rivals in North Carolina, Nebraska and West Virginia.
In North Carolina, the Atlanta businessman has the support of 27 percent of Republican voters. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich were next at 17 percent.
Perry, who led last month with 35 percent, had the support of 15 percent of GOP voters.
The margin of error is 4.9 percentage points for the North Carolina and Nebraska results, and 5.7 percentage points for the West Virginia survey.
The N.C. poll wasn't the only good news for Cain. A national poll by the Washington Post and ABC News this week showed that Romney leads announced GOP candidates with 25 percent, with Perry and Cain tied for second with 16 percent. That represents a 12-point rise for Cain and a 13-point drop for Perry since last month.
And another poll shows Cain narrowly trailing Romney among Florida Republicans, with Perry in fourth place behind Gingrich.
The polls were done after Cain's surprise victory Sept. 24 in Florida Republicans' presidential straw poll. And they followed debate performances and controversies that soured many conservative Republicans on Perry.
"It's not so much what Cain did but what Perry did," said Tom Jensen, director of the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling. "Conservative voters are really souring on Perry and looking for somebody else to support."
Many Republicans, for example, dislike the fact that Perry signed a bill giving many illegal immigrants in-state tuition at Texas colleges.
"Not only has he endorsed that, but he's been bragging about it," said Bucky Sutton, a retired Rock Hill voter who has been to see Perry and Cain.
Cain, the former chairman and CEO of Godfather's Pizza, appears to be picking up much of that support.
He's popular with tea partyers and social conservatives. He prides himself on not being a politician or being politically correct. He's pushing a "9-9-9" plan to enact a 9 percent flat tax on business, a 9 percent tax on personal income and a 9 percent national sales tax.
"First, he's talking about a flat tax," said Belk, of Winthrop. "Then I think that his background as a minister helps him with social conservatives within the party. He speaks their language. And he makes a point of telling them he shares their socially conservative values."
In an opinion piece Tuesday on Fox News, Cain acknowledged his rising visibility.
"Even though the Cain Train is picking up steam ... many in the mainstream media still haven't given me a shot," he wrote. "Fortunately, more have started to take note."
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/05/2439419/herman-cain-leads-gop-field-in.html#ixzz1Zx5mC0jX
It's anyone's race at this point...may the best horse win!
The “post Palin” polls are going to be shockers with Cain the big BIG front runner...
IMHO of course.
Just asking a couple of questions here...
Doesn’t it bother people that he does not understand the U.S. Constitution?
Doesn’t it bother anyone that he reached so far to allege that Rick Perry is a bigot, that he called both Romney and Perry “vanilla” politicians, in essence that he is race-baiting?
What is Cain’s foreign policy platform?
My impression is that, although he is a smooth talker, he is shallow. I can’t help wondering about the kind of person who would jump on board and seriously consider Cain as POTUS.
You need not wonder any more. If Sarah is out this redneck, Honkey,alledged racist white boy is going to support cain, at this point in time.
He has to be proven a lot worse before I will go with those other clowns.
“Foreign policy platform” is pretty vague. Anything in particular you would like to know?
This is a good interview for Herman Cain and it starts with him being asked about the Perry controversy. He plays off comments that he made yesterday by saying that he was only referring to the word on the rock as insensitive, not Perry, and that he has since learned that Perry’s family painted over the word and that he doesn’t feel that the word reflects negatively in any way on Governor Perry.
http://www.therightscoop.com/herman-cain-backs-down-from-perry-rock-story/
Are you so racially sensitive that you find the word “vanilla” to be racially-charged?
Since Sarah isn’t running...I will be joining the Cain train.
He does understand the U.S. Constitution, and I don’t know what you are referring to with that.
He did not allege Perry is a racist, he said the rock thing was racially insensitive. He has since clarified in several different interviews (Fox, Beck, the View, Hannity) that he does NOT think Perry is a racist
Foreign policy:
http://www.hermancain.com/the-issues
On Iran: http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/herman-cain-interview-on-new-ideas-to-tame-iran-dick-morris-tv-lunch-alert/
On Israel: http://dailycaller.com/2011/08/28/the-u-s-must-stand-with-israel/
His conservative credentials go way back - he is not an unknown.
“My impression is that, although he is a smooth talker, he is shallow. I can’t help wondering about the kind of person who would jump on board and seriously consider Cain as POTUS.”
Wonder no more. :)
I’m ‘that kind of person’. What do you want to know about me?
Then start considering.
First, he wasn’t race-baiting but knee jerkers flew with it.
Second, what is anyone’s foreign policy platform? Perry luuuvs his illegals. BTW, I voted for him 4 times and the last two were will a held nose. Overheard at Texas grocery store an hour ago customers talking about how “hinky” Perry was and they weren’t voting for him ever again either.
Third, name one person on The Hill who’s been following the Consitution the past few years.
Fourth, America doesn’t need another RINO lib kissing politician who will cave five seconds after passing the koolaid dispenser. America needs a businessman.
Welcome aboard!
Go Cain! Now how do we stop the big GOP Northeast $ from pushing Romney on us? We need to get some Conservatives to drop out (Santorum, Bachmann) and through their support to Cain.
Common sense, successful businessman, non-politician, likable guy with great sense of humor, rocket scientist background, are all helping propel Cain.
I challenge you to go to a Cain rally. He will answer you questions.
I love when folks b.itch about things when their answers are EVERYWHERE.
He stands with Israel. He does not support the Lybian war.
He doesn’t think the Pres should be able to unilaterly execute an American citizen overseas without consent of ANYONE else . (This was a tough one for me).
He thinks the word niggerhead is a bad word (anyone here disagree/sarcasm)
He thinks ALL Americans should pay some taxes.
Hrmpf!!
Welcome aboard Sir! We need all the help we can get to KO BO!
After the media reports came out Sunday AM, Herman Cain went on two major political shows and played the race card. Cain acted no better then Jackson, Rangel, Waters or Reverand Al. Damage done! The feeding frenzy continues.
Thought better of Herman. Guess I was wrong.
That is a legitimate concern and a real problem. Obama can claim to have taken out Bin Laden, and rightly so. Even if he continued the tactics implemented by Bush that he campaigned against, he still did what he had to do to finish the job. What do we counter that with?
We need to be thinking about that now, regardless of who our candidate turns out to be.
We know Romney, Perry, and Gingrich are one world government politicians and of course RINOs.
Huntsman is a Democrat.
Too many public schooled GOP can't get behind a person whose faith in Christianity truly means something to them. This is what knocks out Santorum and Bachmann. Hence, Cain is surging.
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